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Fans of Cheryl, the X Factor judge and pop star, were perturbed to see a number of disturbing images appearing on her Instagram account on Monday morning.

The star, who has 2.7 million followers on Instagram, usually posts glamorous and uncontroversial photos of herself, her friends and her pet Chihuahuas on the photo-sharing network.

However, three images with expletive-laden captions were apparently posted by a hacker, or group of hackers, going by the name #CyberWolfGang.

One of the images that appeared on Cheryl's Instagram page

Two of the pictures featured Satanic imagery. One was a white inverted cross on a black background, captioned: “666 f*** Liam Payne” – referring to the One Direction star she is reportedly in a relationship with.

The other image featuring a pentagram, and had the caption: “Hail Satan 666 b**** that’s what we do.”

One of the other images

A third post directed people to follow a Twitter account which has 63 followers and appears to be operated from Denmark.

The hack was dealt with swiftly, and the images removed within minutes of appearing.

Cheryl was in the news last week after her marriage to second husband Jean-Bernard Fernandez-Versini was ended in a courtroom "quickie" divorce hearing that lasted only 14 seconds.

The singer complained that the French restaurateur’s "unreasonable behaviour" had caused her stress and weight loss.

A spokesman for the 33-year-old singer said the pair were granted a decree nisi at the Central Family Court in London on Thursday morning.